Heads Up, Ears Down

This blog accurately identifies depictions of violence and cruelty toward animals in films. The purpose is to provide viewers with a reliable guide so that such depictions do not come as unwelcome surprises. Films will be accurately notated, providing a time cue for each incident along with a concise description of the scene and perhaps relevant context surrounding the incident. In order to serve as a useful reference tool, films having no depictions of violence to animals will be included, with an indication that there are no such scenes. This is confirmation that the films have been watched with the stated purpose in mind.


Note that the word depictions figures prominently in the objective. It is a travesty that discussions about cruelty in film usually are derailed by the largely unrelated assertion that no animals really were hurt (true only in some films, dependent upon many factors), and that all this concern is just over a simulation. Not the point, whether true or false. We do not smugly dismiss depictions of five-year-olds being raped because those scenes are only simulations. No, we are appalled that such images are even staged, and we are appropriately horrified that the notion now has been planted into the minds of the weak and cruel.


Depictions of violence or harm to animals are assessed in keeping with our dominant culture, with physical abuse, harmful neglect, and similar mistreatment serving as a base line. This blog does not address extended issues of animal welfare, and as such does not identify scenes of people eating meat or mules pulling plows. The goal is to itemize images that might cause a disturbance in a compassionate household.


These notes provide a heads-up but do not necessarily discourage watching a film because of depicted cruelty. Consuming a piece of art does not make you a supporter of the ideas presented. Your ethical self is created by your public rhetoric and your private actions, not by your willingness to sit through a filmed act of violence.

Ambulance

Ambulance. Michael Bay, 2022.

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Edition screened: Watched online. English language. Runtime approximately 137 minutes.


Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.


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Deported Women of the SS Special Section

Deported Women of the SS Special Section (Le deportate della sezione speciale SS). Rino Di Silvestro (as Alex Berger), 1976.

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Edition screened: Included in the Full Moon DVD set Nazi Basterds & Bombshells, released 2014. English dub. Runtime approximately 98 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals. 2/5❤


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Family Camp

Family Camp. Brian Cates, 2022.

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Edition screened: Watched online. English language. Runtime approximately 111 minutes.


Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.



OMG, as old people say. While traveling, I guessed that this was the most tolerable choice among limited viewing options. I have been wronged.


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La Femme-Objet

La Femme-Objet (Programmed for Pleasure). Claude Mulot (as Frédéric Lansac), 1981.

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Edition screened: Pulse/Vinegar Syndrome Blu-ray, released 2021. French language with English subtitles; decent English dub also available. Runtime approximately 86 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals. 3.5/5❤


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Flatliners

Flatliners. Joel Schumacher, 1990.

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Edition screened: Arrow UHD, released 2022. English language. Runtime approximately 114 minutes.


Summary: A dog is seriously injured.


Details:

1) Kiefer Sutherland has recurring death dreams in which his childhood dog is seen from a distance walking with a crippled gate, his pelvis and two back legs wrapped in bandages. These scenes are not alarming.

2) From 1:32:42 through 1:32:51 we learn how the dog was injured: A child falls from a tree, bringing a large branch down with him. We see the downed branch pinning the dog to the ground across the hips with a little blood visible.


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Fräulein Devil

Fräulein Devil (Elsa Fräulein SS/Captive Women 4). Patrice Rhomm (as Mike Staar), 1977.

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Edition screened: Included in the Full Moon DVD set Nazi Basterds & Bombshells, released 2014. English dub. Runtime approximately 81 minutes.


Summary: A Nazi officer pauses to observe a dead young bird on the ground, 49:54-50:00. 1/5❤



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Fräuleins in Uniform

Fräuleins in Uniform (She Devils of the SS/Eine Armee Gretchen). Erwin C. Dietrich, 1973.

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Edition screened: Included in the Full Moon DVD set Nazi Basterds & Bombshells, released 2014. English dub. Runtime approximately 66 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals. 1/5❤


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Good Time

Good Time. Benny and Joshua Safdie, 2017.

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Edition screened: Lionsgate Blu-ray, released 2017. English language. Runtime approximately 101 minutes.


Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.


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The Lost City

The Lost City. Aaron and Adam Nee, 2022.

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Edition screened: Watched online. English language. Runtime approximately 92 minutes.


Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.


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Love Camp 7

Love Camp 7. Lee Frost, 1968.

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Edition screened: Something Weird DVD, released 2003. English language. Runtime approximately 96 minutes.


Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals. 1/5❤


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Moonfall

Moonfall. Roland Emmerich, 2022.

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Edition screened: Watched online. English language. Runtime approximately 120 minutes.


Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.



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Mystery Train

Mystery Train. Jim Jarmusch, 1989.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #521, released 2010. English language. Runtime approximately 140 minutes.


Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.


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Nazi Basterds & Bombshells

Nazi Basterds & Bombshells. Various directors, 1973-2013.

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Edition screened: Full Moon 5-DVD set, released 2014. English language. Cumulative runtime of feature films approximately 425 minutes.


Summary: Fräulein Devil includes several seconds of a dead bird lying on the ground feeding insects. The other three period films are free of violence to animals. 1/5❤


The Full Moon set includes four B Movies combining the Women in Prison genre with Nazi obsession, plus an original documentary on the topic by Charles Band. See individual titles for details.


Nazithon: Decadence and Destruction (2013 Charles Band)

Deported Women of the SS Special Section (1976 Rino Di Silvestro)

The Beast in Heat (SS Hellcamp) (1977 Luigi Batzella)

She Devils of the SS (Fräuleins in Uniform) (1973 Erwin Dietrich)

Fräulein Devil (1977 Patrice Rhomm)


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The Northman

The Northman. Robert Eggers, 2022.

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Edition screened: Watched online. English language. Runtime approximately 140 minutes.


Summary: Ritual sacrifice of horses.


Details: No timing cues available, but each incident is clearly telegraphed and lasts only a few seconds:

1) When it looks like the dog is going to attack someone in the house, sure enough he does and is stabbed.

2) The horse in silver tack is beheaded at the Viking funeral, off-screen. 

3) A decapitated horse lies on the ground at The Beautiful Reunion on The Other Side.


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Savages

Savages. Oliver Stone, 2012.

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Edition screened: “Unrated Edition” Universal Blu-ray, released 2012. English language. Runtime approximately 134 minutes.


Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.



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Sins of the Flesh

Sins of the Flesh (Les charnelles). Claude Mulot, 1974.

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Edition screened: Mondo Macabro Blu-ray, released 2020. French language with English subtitles. English also available. Runtime approximately 89 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals. 3.5/5❤



Francis Lemmonier plays a 1973 Bally Monte Carlo at 34:19, then a few seconds later at 34:33 walks past a 1973 Gottlieb Jack In The Box.


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Some Came Running

Some Came Running. Vincente Minnelli, 1958.

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Edition screened: Warner Blu-ray, released 2021. English language. Runtime approximately 136 minutes.


Summary: No particular depictions of violence or harm to animals.



Sinatra walks past a woodrail in the bar (18:37) that has a prominent ‘5-4-3-2-1’ on the backglass but is not adequately in focus to identify. Later around 36:00 we see people playing that machine plus a man bent over a second machine that is not clearly shown.


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SS Hellcamp

SS Hellcamp (The Beast in Heat/La bestia in calore). Luigi Batzella, 1977.

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Edition screened: Included in the Full Moon DVD set Nazi Basterds & Bombshells, released 2014. English dub. Runtime approximately 86 minutes.


Summary: No depictions of violence or harm to animals. 1/5❤


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Switchblade Sisters

Switchblade Sisters. Jack Hill, 1975.

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Edition screened: Arrow Blu-ray, released 2021. English language. Runtime approximately 91 minutes.


Summary: Around the 2-minute mark, with opening credits over the action, we see Lace in her bedroom applying perfume. She throws the empty bottle at a rat. The bottle bounces off the floor, alarming but not hurting the animal.


The big fight at the roller rink includes several shots of the same small cluster of mixed pinballs and video games, 55:40 through 56:00, not identifiable.


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Uncut Gems

Uncut Gems. Benny and Joshua Safdie, 2019.

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Edition screened: Criterion Blu-ray #1101, released 2021. English language. Runtime approximately 135 minutes.


Summary: Depiction of dead tropical fish.


Details: At 1:10:45 a red-colored sports drink is poured vindictively into an aquarium tank. There is much hysteria and shouting to fetch glasses of water, into which the fish could be transferred. Later at 1:38:25 we see a small dead tropical fish in a glass of water on a desk.


I like films that not only entertain but also have something to teach. In Uncut Gems we learn that it’s ok to say No if your neighbor asks to use your bathroom.


The Criterion Blu-ray also includes the Safdie brothers’ short film Goldman v Silverman starring Benny Safdie and Adam Sandler (2020, about 8 minutes), and a somewhat entertaining 20-minute FAQ chat with the Safdie brotherss, Adam Sandler, and Jason Bateman, staged as a chance encounter in a diner.


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